Ask Orbital Sciences Corp. Chairman and CEO David W. Thompson what Orbcomm represents to the company's long-term future, and he will tell you it offers the single greatest potential within OSC's business portfolio to deliver shareholder value. Wall Street analysts would tend to agree. As if to affirm this strategic assessment, investors responded enthusiastically to OSC's successful launch last week of eight new communications satellites to complete the space segment of the Orbcomm worldwide data communications network.
The Central Intelligence Agency has declassified 1.5 million images and some details about its 20 years of operating U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, including the payloads they carried and efforts to make them stealthy. The agency confirmed that it began financing efforts to make its small fleet of U-2 reconnaissance aircraft invisible to radar as early as 1956, according to a heavily censored history of the development and use of the aircraft titled ``The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954-1974'' that was also made public.
Prosecutors in Tokyo have arrested two high-ranking Japanese Defense Agency officials and six electronics industry officials in a billing scandal that has shaken the agency. Among those indicted was the former director and deputy director of the JDA's procurement bureau and a former managing director of NEC who is now president of Japan Aviation Electronics Industry. Eight other executives, including the director-general of the procurement bureau, are under investigation.
The SAirGroup will acquire a 44% stake in Air Littoral, a French regional carrier, which will join the Swissair-led Qualiflyer alliance. The SAirGroup's initiative to invest in a French airline is expected to further strengthen Swissair's access to the European Union's (EU) 15-state single market. The Swiss carrier owns 49.5% of Sabena Belgian World Airlines and could soon acquire a major stake in AOM, a French independent carrier currently owned by Credit Lyonnais. AOM operates domestic routes and long-haul services to French overseas territories.
Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways, pledges to spend $250 million to start a new U.S. airline, Virgin America, if the U.S. revises its restrictions on foreign ownership and control of domestic airlines. He insists on majority ownership. Current restrictions are an anomaly in a land where foreigners are welcome to offer competition in almost every other industry, Branson told the International Aviation Club. ``Here in the U.S., you can buy a CD from a Virgin Megastore, drink Virgin Cola and soon visit a Virgin cinema,'' he said.
Denmark's Cimber Air concluded an order with Avions de Transport Regional for four 64-seat ATR 72-500 twin turboprops. First delivery is scheduled for February 1999.
Abipartisan $270.5-billion defense authorization bill for Fiscal 1999 has been approved by a House/Senate conference committee, which held spending within balanced budget confines while buttressing funds for some aircraft and advanced technology programs, including missile defense.
Frank Festa has been appointed general manager of aviation services for Summit Security Services Inc. of New York. He was chief of the Contraband Enforcement Branch of the U.S. Customs Service at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Annette Murphy has been appointed vice president-corporate and agency sales in North America for Northwest Airlines. She was senior vice president-customer service for Reno Air.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Sector has chosen the SAP R/3 program to link certain functions of its business, while Boeing continues to implement the competing Baan software. Lockheed Martin plans to tie financial accounting, sales and marketing, program cost control, logistics, procurement, production and human resources with R/3, and the program is already being used at the Skunk Works, Tactical Aircraft Systems and other areas. When complete, the Aeronautics Sector will have 19,000 regular users of R/3.
Unigraphics Solutions is trying to increase the productivity of its Solid Edge computer-aided design software by anticipating the designer's next action with a feature called ``Stream'' technology. For example, open profiles suggest closed volumes, which are maintained when surrounding geometry changes. The ``align assembly'' relationship infers planar or axial alignment from the shape of the several parts. Unigraphics claims Solid Edge Stream reduces the keystrokes, mouse clicks and time required to complete a task.
NAS Dallas officially closed on Sept. 26. The facility had been operated since 1941 chiefly as a training base for pilots from the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and other services. Plans call for keeping a small Navy staff on site to supervise maintenance of about 120 acres owned by the government. The other 700 acres of the base, including runways and hangars, are owned by the city. City officials are trying to attract commercial businesses to the site.
FlightSafety Boeing's business plan to establish a worldwide network of convenient pilot and maintenance training ``hubs'' is betting on continued airline consolidation, globalization and outsourcing. The joint venture is establishing a single standard of training, which means carriers using the service will receive identical classroom instruction, simulator experience and supporting materials at any FSB site. This should appeal to carriers with crew bases in other countries or subsidiary airlines, according to T. Wakelee Smith, president of FSB.
John Cappadona has been named director of marketing for Loral Skynet, Bedminster, N.J. He was group sales director for media and entertainment for AT&T. Cappadona succeeds Jonathan Kirchner, who is now director of marketing for the Loral Global Alliance.
Following successful flight test of the Aviation Partners Inc.-designed winglets on the new Boeing Business Jet, the Seattle-based aircraft manufacturer is studying adding winglets to its other 737 models. A prototype set of API's ``blended'' winglets boosted specific range performance on the BBJ by up to 7%, enabling Boeing to eliminate one underfloor tank and still achieve the BBJ's promised 6,200-naut.-mi. range under instrument weather conditions.
Final numbers for ``Laima,'' the only one of four nearly identical Aerosonde unmanned aerial vehicles to cross the North Atlantic last month, indicate the long-range weather reconnaissance drone landed with 1 kg. (2.2 lb.) of fuel remaining (AW&ST July 27, p. 13). Fuel burn for the 26.75-hr.-long flight from Nova Scotia to Scotland was 4 kg. (8.8 lb.) and oil loss was 30 cc. out of a total of 220 cc. Laima's wind-aided but rain-swept ``south of great-circle'' route measured about 3,270 km. (2,044 mi.). The 3-ft. wingspan UAV is powered by a 20-cc.
Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co. in Beijing is benefitting from spillover work from Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg. Ameco is jointly owned by Lufthansa and Air China and has become China's largest maintenance overhaul center. Its latest customer is Saudi Arabian Airlines, which is having a D-check, cabin reconfiguration, repainting, Sec. 41 and strut modification done on a 747-100 in Beijing. The work was shifted from Hamburg to Beijing because of Lufthansa's heavy workload and after Saudi had inspected and approved the Chinese facility.
France-based Regional Airlines late last week concluded an order for five 37-seat Embraer ERJ-135s and five additional 50-seat ERJ-145 twinjets. The contract is valued at about $150 million, according to Embraer officials. First delivery is planned for October 1999.
Korean Air expects to use IBM Global Services to run its computer systems, technical support services and management network. The carrier has provided a letter of intent to begin outsourcing its IT functions to IBM by the end of the year in a deal expected to be worth more than $400 million over a 10-year period.
Russia and China are exploring setting up an aircraft-building consortium to reduce their reliance on Western-made aircraft and preserve skilled aerospace jobs. Moscow has proposed that the starting point for such an effort could be joint production of Russian civil transports, such as the Tu-204, Tu-334, Il-114 and Il-96. But such projects have little chance for success unless these aircraft secure certification according to Western airworthiness standards, a process beset by delays.
In the past, American Eurocopter's reputation for customer support has been less than satisfactory, but new management at the company's facilities here has instituted a series of key changes that are reversing that trend. Based upon feedback from operators, ``We have made tremendous progress'' in improving services and ``are continuing to place a lot of emphasis on customer support,'' said Cary Brown, senior vice president for customer service, marketing and sales.
LanChile, the TACA group of El Salvador and TAM of Brazil have all selected AlliedSignal's enhanced ground proximity warning system for Airbus A320 series aircraft in contracts worth more than $100 million. The deal includes flight data and cockpit voice recorders and auxiliary power units.
